The Israeli military said on Tuesday it rescued one of the hostages, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, held by Hamas in Gaza.
Alkadi, 52, is in stable medical condition and is being evaluated at an Israeli hospital, the Israel Defense Forces said. The father of 11 was reunited with his family there.
Alkadi was kidnapped on Oct. 7, along with roughly 250 other Israelis during the Hamas attack that ignited the war. He lived near the city of Rahat and worked at Kibbutz Magen prior to getting kidnapped, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, IDF spokesman, said it was a “complex rescue operation in the southern Gaza Strip.”
“I thank our heroic soldiers who risk their lives every day for the sacred mission of bringing our brothers and sisters, both living and those who are no longer with us, back to our land,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said. “The state of Israel will do everything to bring all the hostages home and to destroy the Hamas terror organization.”
There are believed to be 108 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to the forum. They have been held for more than 300 days, having been kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that also left roughly 1,200 people dead.
More than a hundred of the hostages were released after about a month and a half in captivity in late November, but Hamas has not released any of the hostages since that weeklong ceasefire agreement ended. Israeli forces have carried out several hostage rescue missions since then, which have resulted in the return of some of the living and dead hostages.
Last week, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six hostages during an overnight military operation in Khan Yunis.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The U.S., Qatari, and Egyptian governments, which have acted as mediators since the war began, have spent the several months since that truce trying to get another one done but haven’t been successful yet. Negotiations remain ongoing, and representatives from all of the involved parties are in Cairo continuing these discussions.
Israel’s war against Hamas has devastated its ranks, taking out several top leaders, but it also has decimated the Gaza Strip. Much of the Gaza population has been displaced, and many face the threat of disease and hunger amid the fighting. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry has reported that more than 40,000 people have been killed during the war, but that number does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.